1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to materials which improve the taste quality, especially the aftertaste characteristics, of various foods, and to foods having an improved aftertaste.
2. Discussion of the Background
The taste of a food varies depending on the types of taste components contained therein, and various improvements have been attempted when foods were found to have complicated or unpleasant tastes. Among the low-calorie sweeteners that have been increasingly used, intense sweeteners, such as, for example, Aspartame, are characterized in that they are free from a bitter, astringent or stimulating taste and have a light refreshing sweetness. However, it has a somewhat less full-bodied sweetness, and, as characteristically experienced with the intense sweeteners, it tends to impart a persistent sweet aftertaste.
With regard to the improvement of such sweetness characteristics of Aspartame, various proposals have been made (Unexamined Japanese Patent Applications S52-90667, S56-148255, S57-63068, S58-141760, and S64-63356). Nevertheless, such proposed methods are not effective enough for improving the sweetness characteristics of Aspartame or to imbue it with a satisfactory sweetness comparable with that of powder sugar. In addition, such methods employing various taste components concomitantly involve the use of Aspartame in a weight amount equal to or more than those of the concomitant components, and it is desirable that the methods be further improved also in view of caloric reduction or wider application.
On the other hand, other intense sweeteners, such as saccharin, cyclo, stevia inverted sugar products, Acesulfame K and the like, have a high bitter-astringency. Foods containing such sweeteners exhibit unfavorable mouthfeel even after swallowing, and the unpleasant aftertaste tends to affect the entire character of the taste, so that overall improvement from instant taste through aftertaste is required.
Thus, there remains a need for agents and methods which are effective for improving the taste properties of intense sweeteners. There also remains a need for foods which contain such an intense sweetener and such an agent.